Putting this in the debate section because, knowing us, it's liable to get heated quickly

Anyways, I've just read through Elaine Pagel's The Gnostic Gospels and I have to say I found it really interesting. For the past two years or so my religious and spiritual views have moved from agnostic/atheism to a more Buddhist outlook with a lot of Christian/Catholic influences (i.e. Thomas Merton), and then out of nowhere Gnosticism seems like basically the perfect blend of those two philosophically.

So how do you guys view Gnosticism and other religious/philosophical "outliers?" Do you think they tend to offer more/better perspectives than organized religion, or...?